Social media users demand arrest of BJP MP Tejasvi Surya over old Islamophobic tweet

Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya faced social media backlash after a tweet by him resurfaced after years, and went viral.

“95% Arab women have never had an orgasm in the last few hundred years!Every mother has produced kids as act of sex and not love,” the young BJP leader had posted in 2015. When he was called out for his blatant Islamophobia then, he had defended saying he was merely quoting Pakistani-Canadian author Tarek Fatah. “I have merely stated what Tarek Fatah said. Having said that I agree with him that Islamofascism is grave threat to civilization,” he had said in defence.

Now, the old tweet has come back to haunt the MP after Emirati businesswoman Noora Al Ghurair, who has often voiced her concerns over the way Muslims are treated in India, called him out for his Islamophobia and misogyny in her tweet. “Pity Ur upbringing @Tejasvi_Surya that respect for women couldn’t be instilled in U despite India having some great female leaders .Please note if someday the govt bestows a foreign ministry to you, avoid travelling to Arab lands. You are not welcome here. This will be remembered,” she had tweeted.

Her tweet was soon noticed by a few Twitter users, with considerable number of followers, in the Arab countries. Some of them tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi in their tweets. "An Indian Member of Parliament accuses Arab women, and we Arabs are asking for his membership to be dropped," wrote one user.

“Respected Prime minister @narendramodi India's relation with the Arab world has been that of mutual respect. Do you allow your parliamentarian to publicly humiliate our women? We expect your urgent punitive action against @Tejasvi_Surya for his disgraceful comment,” wrote another.

“The failure of the #Indian health system to counter #coronavirus shouldn't be diverted to racist rhetoric towards Muslims. Because the #pandemic does not differentiate between religions,” said another tweet.

The tweet has been deleted following the social media storm.

Meanwhile, a hashtag #ArrestTejasviSurya began trending with several people demanding his arrest.

"It's International Embarrassment.... nothing less than online Pandemic," wrote one.

"Tweet by @Tejasvi_Surya is totally disgusting. It shows that How much he respects the #women," wrote another.

"This surya bigot and hate monger should be arrested," wrote another user.

"It's hard to imagine that a elected member of parliament is making fun of women on tweets acting as sexiest,racist. when his govt is focusing on "beti bachao beti padao" and u are making fun of other women," another user said.